Phantasy Star Online 2 Reaches South East Asia In Early 2014… In English

Somehow this slipped under our radar entirely, even though it’s from a couple of months ago: Asiasoft will publish Phantasy Star Online 2 in South East Asia—in English.

The territories Asiasoft will cover include: Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. They’ll be publishing the PC version of the game.

“Asiasoft has an excellent track record in publishing online games in Southeast Asian countries and this partnership is in line with Sega’s aspiration to expand our PC online game portfolio,” said Naoya Tsurumi, president and COO of Sega Corporation.

“Sega and Asiasoft will be working closely together to provide the best PSO2 experience for users in Thailand, Singapore Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines by creating localized contents that will appeal to the market in said countries.”

Phantasy Star Online 2 will reach the aforementioned territories in 2014. Sega announced the game for release in North America and Europe earlier this year, but have since been quiet on the subject of its release.

…….And still complete silence from SEGA on the front of an NA/EU release.
*sigh*

Devinja

Sega you meanies, just… just do it. We in the west want it dammit.

Just Tim

I already accepted the fact that Sonic profits are needed to buoy and finance a US release for PSO2; then again, this might be indirectly both AT&T and Comcast’s faults, especially when they have a virtual duopoly in SEGA’s US HQ, SF.

Those, or they might use Southeast Asia as a test market for an English-language release.

MasterScrub

So… that means NA/EU are getting next year too, right?

RIGHT?

FetusZero

This means we all will sign up on the South East Asia servers :]

mojack411

Exactly this. I’ll see you there.

Anesia Hunter

even with the english I don’t think it’ll be that easy. i’m expecting an ip block on NA & EU. D:

FetusZero

“Let’s IP block the people to whom we will NEVER give the game!”

D; but I seriously hope this means SEGA will do something for NA/EU.. though my hopes have been shattered a long time ago for that and I’ve moved on since then.

Altin

Nah, there is no IP Block for JPN Servers. I doubt that they are going the extra mile for South East Asia.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChAgYzpMfD0X9n_9uj6Zghw Jeremy

unlikely. Asiasoft doesnt ip block with any of their other games, so hopes are high

JMaster3000

Well i tried to contact them but they redirect me to playpark… that’s the one who IP blocked Ragnarok Online 2 for EU/US….. and the site says ” Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. ” Which means no for US/EU.

keithmaxx

The prepaid card credits business model sold at retail in SEA is still widespread so unless the publisher makes online credit purchase available, it might still be difficult, on top of a likely IP block.

Juan Andrés Valencia

Yeah, I stopped hoping a long time ago. Sega is weird localizing games, they localize the worst stuff in their catalogue but Valkyria Chronicles 3, Yakuza 5 and it’s PSP installments and many others? NOPE

MaximDualBlade

talking about localizations. I sure wish we get phantasy star nova over here, an offline phantasy star is awesome

Tenabrus

That’s nice….

http://naciongamer.com/ APA

D*mn you, SEGA! I want this game to be released in America, for PS Vita, ASAP! You had us on hold, way too long! >:(

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

Don’t hope for PS Vita there. At least, PC version is the best we can hope for.T_T

NUBFIGHT4

I was excited when I saw the headline,then I saw Asiasoft was going to publish it and I just stopped thinking of playing it already.

Kaetsu

If it’s in English then Sega has no reason not to bring it here already. Hopefully the’ll announce it otherwise I’ll just play on the East Asia server.

DeepSleeper

Is anyone familiar with Asiasoft? Is it difficult to get an account on their games from the US/UK?

neocatzon

Yes, but you can use VPN. But you should forget that, for all that hassle Asiasoft accountability as a publisher is.. meh.

Chaos_Knight

At least they mentioned “English”.

IS | 桂木

That’s a slap in the face to the west

Raze

FUCK YEAAAH!!

Indonesia is there lol

Gonna play the hell of it!!

WyattEpp

Okay, they’re just screwing with us at this point.

Robert Hendrie

About time this game has only been full translated into English for like ever now

Sergio Briceño

Yes.

otakumike

c’mon Sega…

gk2012

“Asiasoft has an excellent track record in publishing online games in Southeast Asian countries”

Everyone who played any of Asiasoft’s games know that’s an obvious lie.

Are we going to have 30 minute cooldowns on the different Ranger bullet types?

Jeremy Barnes

That seems more like development than publishing..

gk2012

No, Asiasoft specifically asked the developers of Ragnarok Online 2 to increase the cooldowns of their skills, specifically spells that revive your party members, to force players into buying items from their cash shop. That’s how bad they are.

http://amc9988.deviantart.com/ amc99

yup, what gk said is true

http://kuroneko772.blog.jeuxvideo.com/ KuroNeko77

Well, according to some report there will be some gameplay adjustment.
They were talking about increasing the required exp to level up as thai players are more actives than japanese.

gk2012

I knew it. They really are going to abuse the EXP multiplying items in PSO2 by lowering your experience points. :/

ShawnOtakuSomething

Oh Sega…………

하세요

I’ll stick to the Japanese version English Patched like the most of us. Too much time in to restart.

Chris Cruz

I’d love to do that as well but I don’t know how to make an account for the japanese version without having to go through the impossible Japanese Captcha

^ This.
PSO2 is actually rather casual for a majority of the game (with exceptions being some of the timed missions and a few special events.) I can’t see how making the bosses harder would be a bad thing for PSO2.

http://otoboku.se manga

So if they make each boss requiring you to die at least once and the only item for revival is sold from a cash shop then you´re all “oh goodie I have to spent hard earned money on stupid shit just to beat the boss”?

I sincerely hope not. Increasing difficulty only to be able to sell more items in a cash shop is a shitty move.

Kumiko Akimoto

Not really, they aren’t holding a gun to your head and you still make the option to by it you could back and grind like someone with impulse control or learn how to defeat the boss before partaking.

http://otoboku.se manga

Indeed. Learn how to beat a boss before partaking is how you play games? Then I understand you could accept that.

For me it would ruin the game knowing exactly what to do against a boss or how it moved.

Grinding away for levels yes that is the sole option left so I wouldn´t die. Not fun. Games are supposed to be fun.

And in a way they are holding a gun against your head since the revival items would surely be cash shop only and thus if you die once you have to start a new character from square one…

Kumiko Akimoto

Studying a bosses move set so you won’t get hit would ruin the game for you?
If that’s how you feel about grinding you should never play another rpg or eastern mmo again. That and revival items aren’t the only cash shop they have never been in any game.

http://otoboku.se manga

Reread the comment. I said I disliked learning how to beat a boss before partaking.

Where in tarnations do i say I don´t like studying a bosses move set? I didn´t.

Learning how a boss acts with multiple attempts is what´s fun. Learning what element it is weak against, how to protect against the attacks of the boss etc etc is fun. When you experience it for yourself and not by watching others.

Kumiko Akimoto

Well i sure wasn’t talking about having some kind of psychic link that tells you the bosses move set before hand

Aetheus

I honestly doubt that the only way to revive a character is to buy an item from a cash shop. The only game batshit enough to do that is Wizardry Online, and that one pretty much warns you right off the bat that it will fuck you over if you die (permadeath and all, unless you cash shop).

In any other sane MMO, you just die, respawn at the nearest town and *maybe* lose exp and/or some items.

And you know what? That’s fine. Dying in a game is -supposed- to be punishing. Losing items/exp is supposed to deter me from dying too often. As a form of punishment, it’s cheap enough that I can afford to die multiple times, but painful enough that I wouldn’t want to die if I could help it.

Can you imagine if a game removed all penalties from dying and popped up a “click this to revive here immediately” button whenever you died? It’d become boring as shit, and fast.

http://otoboku.se manga

I am all for dying in a game and being punished for it. Makes you either grind away or be very very cautious.

Penalties for playing like a jerk is a must. Some games do have a “revive on the spot” function. So far it has worked fine since the usage of this function is limited to 3 a day or to the amount of scrolls you own.

Permdeath in a MMO? Dear lord. That sounds horrible.

gk2012

PSO2 already offers different levels of difficulty in the game.

But intentionally giving you a false sense of difficulty by giving you less experience points and nerfing all your skills just to force you to buy items using real money is indeed bad.

Kumiko Akimoto

Yep I’m spending so much on the cash shop right now. Yep buying lots of japanese yen via cards just to make it through levels. Are you serious?

Read the comments on march 26 Edward@SEGA confirms PSO2 as being delayed but wouldn’t say more about it. There is a video from PAx 2012 where a PSO2 developer announces it as an early 2013 NA release but I can’t find it.

It’s good news, but it’s such a low blow. But it looks like we’re going there until then.

Mrgrgr and Unacceptable World

Yeahhhhh. While i am kinda sad that my fellow U.S brethen who is not able to play this game yet, quick join us together in the S.E.A server here.^_^

Renaldi Saputra

AFAIK, PSO2 isn’t region locked, so ppl from anywhere can play
don’t know about this localized version

Go2hell66

I’ll take it
Better than nothing

Nitraion

Well as SEA residents…
I gotta try it

Renaldi Saputra

I’m Indonesian
but, sorry dude, I’ll stay on Japan Server

http://twitter.com/#!/Leafy_Cam Leafhopper

You know what I don’t even care anymore.

Seven of The Scions

Don’t forget the PS Vita version okay?

CartmanKusanagi

English, but only in South East Asia?

Okay, I’m convinced: Sega is only trying to play mind games with those of us in the West.

Aetheus

MMOs have a huge following in SEA, and English is the only common language that most of the countries within that region have with one another, so I’m not really surprised. As a SEA gamer, I’m feeling almost vindictive. THIS IS FOR IP BLOCKING ME WHEN I TRIED TO PLAY MABINOGI! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!

… but, yeah, I feel your pain man. Can definitely empathize with you. Here’s to hoping that Asiasoft is feeling generous enough to “forget” to implement an IP block.

Ban The Jackass

Haha. Awesome! I get to play! So this is how EU feels when they got BD earlier than US :P

BentoBlame

Excellent news I’ll be telling my friends about this, less lag for us since its SEA.

Ryo-kun

YES INDONESIA o/

Otoya

Asiasoft always do a good job, finally!!!!!!

Ferrick

always? How the heck did you misspell ‘never’ ?

Seven of The Scions

I want to play PSO 2 with my Vita in the afternoon at work, then I can continue my FFXIV at night, that’s truly nice feeling~

CH3N9

…not exactly a good move but can’t argue that MMO is way too popular in East than West.

Kai2591

Brunei is forgotten…again ;_;

megaten666

I just want to play a proper Phantasy Star remake :(

Juan Manuel M. Suárez

Sega never got the recognition it deserved; sure, the SNES had outstanding Third Party support when Squaresoft was basically at the top of their game. But PSIV was a Sega first party JRPG with a scope comparable to the likes of FFVI~.

megaten666

For me, 16-bit Phantasy Star games were actually on the same level as -for example- Final Fantasy IV or V.
Phantasy Star I, II and IV are easily my favorite sci-fi JRPGs of all time. One should not simply hate those gorgeous manga cutscenes in PSIV and the epic references to the first game :D
Also, I don’t like when people say Aerith from FFVII was the first player character to die in a JRPG. Before Aerith, there was Alys from PSIV, killed by Zio’s Black Energy Wave.
Maan, that game was awesome :D (though, I really missed PSI’s first person view dungeon crawling in later games)

Juan Manuel M. Suárez

Another trademark of PSIV that not even FF had was that *everything* in the World’s towns was clickable. Only Sora no Kiseki FC has given me that feeling ever since~.

Warboss Aohd

Sega be trolling us.

Zikrayrus “Zikk” Dis Pear

I…wouldn’t say Asiasoft is exactly a good company though >.< English Translation is pretty bad…. and various other things. At least I should be happy it is coming to our region though.

Lutfi Ardiansyah

why must asiasoft… WHY!!

S- Class Wizard KaRamo

So were is the vita English version

Isaac Newton

Ohhhh yes!

CirnoLakes

Surely this means we will be getting the game in America soon.

… right?

ishyg

Philippines, YAY!

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